By Babatis Banda: The Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez bout is one of the biggest fights to be made in recent history. This may simply be because Canelo has a huge fan base and is fighting the best in the sport. This is not in any way different from Manny Pacquiao.
Mayweather/Pacquiao could have easily been the biggest, simply because the best P4P fighter in Mayweather would be fighting someone hugely popular to the proportions of being an ambassador to his country, the Philippines.
Pacquiao, his team and his fans are back to their old ways….all talk and no action. The reasons the fight never took place is very clear. The issue of RBT should not arise again, because now many fighters, thanks to Floyd Mayweather are alive to the fact that there are serious problems in all of sport today in terms of cheating and they are asking for testing including Pacquiao himself. RBT is non-negotiable and no boxer should give an excuse ever again.
Unfortunately, and I say so because this issue is also non-negotiable. It is plainly clear that Pacquiao cannot demand a 50-50 cut of the stakes with Mayweather. If Pacquiao is sincere, he should be alive to this fact, to ask for a 50-50 share with Floyd, who is reigning supreme and in top form is just not possible in the light of his back to back losses and almost a tragic result in his fight with Marquez which caused real concern over his health.
For Pacquiao to talk Mayweather in sight of one of the sport’s biggest showing in September the 14th, is tantamount to stealing the lime light from Canelo. If not, then Pacquiao is trying to draw attention to his own fight by making people know that he is alive and kicking. There is no doubting that the knock-out loss to Marquez sent him into the darkest moments of his career not because knock-outs should not happen, but because of the manner it happened.
This talk should not just end in lame talk. Pacquiao should never live things to Arum. He should stand up and be vocal. He should talk straight about testing. He should make it plainly clear he is willing to take the smaller cut of the cake. What should be subject to negotiation is how small this cake should really be. Plainly, without Pacquiao taking these bold steps, this talk is simply posturing and it has no value. Pacquiao here is the one that needs Floyd and not the other way.
The ball is in Pacquiao’s court and refusing to see how weak he is in this matter is burying his head in the sand. There is no pride to protect now and there is everything to salvage until Pacquiao is willing to take the painful route to prove he is the best. At the moment, all Mayweather needs to do is prove he is not in Canelo’s league by beating him up in front of his many fans. How much he does so will be subject to post-fight discussions as usual. Rather than steal the limelight from Canelo, Pacquiao should take concrete steps to make it happen and this should purely be in the interest to satisfy the bruised ego of his and his fans.
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